Australian businesses have reduced their spending on R&D, with mining and engineering taking the biggest cuts, according to data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The federal agency says business spending on R&D declined by $16.6 billion in the 2015-16 financial year, which was 12 per cent less than the previous year. The number of staff allocated to research also dropped by around 11 per cent.
Spending on engineering research declined by $1.9bn, although funding for digital technologies increased by $561 million.
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